Quick hits from NC State's 77-73 win at Notre Dame
Quick hits and notes from NC State’s needed 77-73 win at Notre Dame in front of 8,709 fans at Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind. on a snowy Saturday afternoon in the Midwest.
Play of the game
When redshirt junior guard C.J. Bryce made his first three-pointer of the game, he put NC State up 13-12 with 13:23 left in the first half. NC State would not trail again the rest of the game, but it needed several clutch baskets to keep its lead.
One of the biggest baskets was the last of Bryce’s five three-pointers. Fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett drew the defense and kicked out to Bryce, open on the left wing. Bryce nailed the three-pointer to give NC State a 67-61 lead with 4:48 to go in the game.
Not until 12.3 seconds left in the contest did Notre Dame get the margin within one possession.
Highlight of the game
For the second straight contest, there was not a lot of high-flying action in this game.
Player of the game
Bryce had the game of his Wolfpack career. He made 9 of 14 shots from the field, including all five of his three-point shot attempts, to finish with 23 points. That was five off his career high he set when he was a sophomore at UNC Wilmington against Towson, but it’s five points better than his highest output for NC State.
Ironically, that game was at Wisconsin, when Bryce had 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting. In NC State’s four true road games, Bryce is averaging 17.0 points a contest and shooting 26 of 52, or 50.0 percent. He is also 8 of 16 on threes in those games.
The five made three-pointers against Notre Dame was a new career-high for Bryce.
New-look starting lineup
For just the second time during the past two seasons, fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn came off the bench, and making his first start in a Wolfpack uniform was Lockett. Also not in the lineup was junior guard Markell Johnson, who missed his second straight contest after hurting his hip/back following a hard fall in State’s win over Pittsburgh Jan. 12.
Dorn still played 29 minutes however and finished with 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting and nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds, all on the defensive glass. That would have been Dorn’s 13th career double-double.
Lockett had a fairly quiet start. He made 1 of 3 shots, missing both of threes, for two points in 19 minutes.
Second half Pack
NC State led 37-35 at halftime, just the second time in ACC play the Wolfpack held the lead at the break. The other time was a one-point 41-40 advantage against Pitt.
Interestingly, NC State has been a consistent second half team this year. It outscored Notre Dame 40-38 after the break. NC State has scored at least 40 points in the second half of all five of its ACC games this year. It has also outscored all but one of its opponents.
UNC edged NC State 43-40 in the second half, but it should be noted that the Heels scored the final four points of the game on free throws while the Pack was fouling to try to extend the game. Without that, NC State would have outscored them as well in the final 20 minutes.
In five ACC games, here are the scoring averages for NC State and its opponent broken down by halves.
First:
Opponents – 41.8
NC State – 36.8
Second:
NC State – 43.0
Opponents – 37.4
Who is that guy?
Notre Dame freshman guard Dane Goodwin was probably not high on NC State’s scouting report before the game. In Notre Dame’s first four ACC games, Goodwin had made 6 of 23 shots from the field, although he was a solid 4 of 10 from three-point range. He was averaging just 5.0 points per game in conference action.
Even in non-conference play, Goodwin had only reached double digits four times.
So naturally Goodwin would have his breakout performance against the Wolfpack and at one point single-handedly keep the Irish in the contest. Goodwin matched his career-high with 19 points, making 7 of 10 shots from the field, including 2 of 3 three-pointers.
He had 12 straight points for Notre Dame at one point in the second half and closed what was a 48-42 lead for the Wolfpack down to 58-56 after making a three-pointer with 10:18 left.
Spotted at the game
Johnson did make the trip for this game and was on the Wolfpack bench. That might be an indicator that he is much closer to joining the team. Johnson did not make the trip to Winston-Salem Tuesday night when NC State was stunned by the Deacons.
Also spotted was freshman forward Jericole Hellems sporting a new haircut. Hellems may have been motivated to change things up after going 0 for 11 in his last two games. Against Notre Dame, Hellems went 2 for 4 and scored four points in 12 minutes, including a crucial steal and layup with 3:16 left to give the Pack a 69-63 lead.
Scoring between official timeouts
This year we have kept track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:
First half
20:00-15:11: Notre Dame 9, NC State 8
15:11-11:47: NC State 7, Notre Dame 5
11:47-7:39: NC State 6, Notre Dame 5
7:39-3:35: NC State 9, Notre Dame 6
3:35-Halftime: Notre Dame 10, NC State 7
Second half
20:00-15:13: NC State 11, Notre Dame 7
15:13-11:37: Notre Dame 11, NC State 9
11:37-7:48: Notre Dame 8, NC State 5
7:48-3:07: NC State 7, Notre Dame 2
3:07-Final: Notre Dame 10, NC State 8
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.
• Bryce +6 (34 minutes played)
• Redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker +5 (15)
• Sophomore guard Blake Harris +3 (6)
• Dorn +2 (29)
• Lockett +2 (19)
• Hellems +2 (12)
• Redshirt sophomore guard Devon Daniels +1 (27)
• Sophomore guard Braxton Beverly 0 (34)
• Redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk -1 (25)
What the win means
The Pack is 15-3 overall on the season and 3-2 in the ACC. Notre Dame falls to 11-7 and 1-4. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 8-6, including 4-3 since joining the ACC. The Pack though is actually 4-3 at Notre Dame.
NC State improved to 2-2 on the road, 7-0 in day games (tips before 6 p.m.) and 8-0 on weekend contests. It is 14-1 when leading at halftime
The game was broadcast on Raycom. This is the third of five straight games broadacst by Raycom. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 6-0
- RSN: 3-0
- ESPNU: 2-0
- ESPN2: 2-1
- Raycom: 2-1
- ESPN: 0-1
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 6-0
- January: 3-2
- February: 0-0
- March: 0-0
Other stats of note
• NC State won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Irish, 36-30.
• The Wolfpack won the turnover margin 9-7, but ND had an 8-4 points off turnovers advantage.
• The Fighting Irish had a 7-4 win in fast-break points.
• Defensively, NC State had three blocks and four steals. Notre Dame had four steals and four rejections.
• NC State’s overall rebound advantage was 43-38, including 13-10 on the offensive glass. NC State had a 14-11 edge in second chance points
• State’s bench outscored the Notre Dame’s reserves 30-4.
• NC State led for 33:01, Notre Dame for 5:20, and the game was tied for 1:39. The largest lead for State was eight and for the Irish it was three.
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